Very Interesting question that taught me a lesson or two on innovation ! Based on the article attached, perhaps the bicycle designers of the time should have been more open to the idea of the emancipated woman? In this case innovativeness can take the form of a "gender neutral" design?

http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895/

Dear Michael,

I'm not sure there was ever really the opportunity of a bicycle moment in European cities at the end of the XIXth c, at least in the meaning of a moment that could have led to a possible hegemony, had all the possible incentive measures (fiscal, morphological, regulatory...) been taken. The convergence between industry, consumption, the anthropology of urban mobility habits, administration and urban planning seems to have never been favourable. Research about Paris seems to suggest that the success of the moment "automobile" was due precisely to such a convergence.

If you read French, this paper by M. Flonneau is very telling, and one could read in this narration a kind of negative of what didn't happen at that time as for bikes:

Flonneau Mathieu, « Paris au cœur de la révolution des usages de l'automobile 1884-1908 », Histoire, économie & société 2/2007, p. 61-74.

URL : www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-economie-et-societe-2007-2-page-61.htm

DOI : 10.3917/hes.072.0061

I hope such remarks are useful for your reflection

best regards

d.